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Introduction to Linux - A Hands on Guide

This guide was created as an overview of the Linux Operating System, geared toward new users as an exploration tour and getting started guide, with exercises at the end of each chapter.
For more advanced trainees it can be a desktop reference, and a collection of the base knowledge needed to proceed with system and network administration. This book contains many real life examples derived from the author's experience as a Linux system and network administrator, trainer and consultant. They hope these examples will help you to get a better understanding of the Linux system and that you feel encouraged to try out things on your own.

Hello I'm slack_ glad to be here. I'm currently working on a little project, if you can call it that, and I'm running into some trouble. Basically what I'm trying to do is create a key to get into my computer. I'm trying to set up /boot on /dev/sdb1(my usb) and install GRUB on said device as well. The desired effect is that you would't be able to get into my computer at all unless this usb device was plugged in. I've tried this with LILO and it doesn't want to work, and I've seen a method on the Arch wiki using GRUB so I figured I'd try that instead. I will explain the steps I've taken:

First off, I'm intending on running a dual-boot with Win7. So my partitioning scheme is as follows:

Then, using fdisk, I create a Primary partition /dev/sda4. This will be mounted as /. Next, I create a new Primary partition on /dev/sdb1(usb) and make it bootable. This will be mounted at /boot. Both partitions are ext4. So now my partitioning schemed looks like this:

/dev/sda1
/dev/sda2
/dev/sda3
/dev/sda4 Linux

/dev/sdb1 (bootable) Linux

Now, I go through the setup. I don't create a SWAP. I set the target partitions. As I said, /dev/sda4 target is /. Target for /dev/sdb1 is /boot. I skip creating a boot disk. I do a full install, and I skip installing LILO. Here's where I run into trouble.

After I configure the system, instead of starting over. I open up a new TTY and download grub-0.97-i486-9.txz from http://packages.slackware.com/ in extra/grub under the Slackware 14.0 32bit release. Then I run these commands:

installpkg grub-0.97-i486-9.txz (works successfully)

slackpkg update (can't resolve mirrors)
I've made sure to enable only one mirror under the US Slackware 14.0 section. I've tried multiple different ones, and even though I'm connected to the internet, the mirrors always fail.

However, just last night this part worked for me successfully. So, let's pretend that it works for me now. The next step after that I would run is:

You wouldn't happen to have installed slackware 64 and trying to use a package from slackware 32 bit? If so, I don't think that will work without setting up for multilib. If your running slackware64 installing grub2 from current would probably work.

Because you added /boot as a USB drive on /dev/sdb you may need to check the /boot/grub/grub.cfg to make sure the bootloader is set properly to auto-detect the bootloader and kernel being set on a removeable drive.

Not to poke and shoot down your idea, but you very much so, over-complicated the system by using a /boot partition off the main drive. It's not a bad idea, but it's just over-complicated and setting up Grub2 is often very problematic as the USB drive must be bootable and read-ready at startup. Some ways around this might be to install grub to /dev/sdb and have the USB drive as the 1st bootable device with the HDD boot disabled.

You could have simplified your security by placing a password in the CMOS/BIOS for the hard drive so that without the password it won't boot, and protecting the CMOS with a password also.

Correct? I'm also assuming that making the directory /boot/grub should be done on the USB, given that I'm still attempting that method. By the way, when I'm running these commands should I be doing everything with /dev/sdb1 or /dev/sdb?

It would be /dev/sdb as Grub would be installing to the master boot record of the drive, not the actual partition itself.

The /boot directory should be mounted for /dev/sdb1 and so all directories will in fact be on /dev/sdb1.

Basically you'd want to do something such as this to more or less ensure the /boot directory is in fact set for /dev/sdb1 for files to be properly placed (note this also assumes you're using an ext4 partition scheme, but this can be changed:

Note that the root= entry will have to be checked before you run grub-install. Make sure all the variables are set to ensure that it specifically reads correctly.

For further security you should also comment out the entry in fstab for your /boot partition as well so that the /boot partition and device /dev/sdb remains hidden. Be warned that udisks and udev could automount the device as well.

By enforcing the boot to the USB device you shouldn't require anything else... at least I hope so. Grub-2.00 is very tricky to work with at times and I'm still having issues with certain functions of it.

If you are using Slackware 14.0 distribution you should get the packages from SlackBuilds.org, not the -current repository.

I just gave it a try using current, one can get it work if just the grub package is installed, but just because I got it to work on my system doesn't mean it will work on a different system. The os-prober from current will cause Slackware 14.0 to lock-up hard.

Well the packages from SlackBuilds worked out for me...I think. I'm very new to Slackware and I'm still getting the hang of installing packages and things like that. I extracted and built it using ./configure, make, and make install. Then I ran the commands I was told to run earlier:

This builds packages in a fakeroot-like environment, then fakeroot-installs, and repackages them, and all necessary files into their proper directories so that the pkgtool system can install them to their correct directories in /(root) or /usr.

This method worked for me up until the second to last step. After building the package the last message I see is:

find: '/tmp/grub-2.00-x86_64-SBo.tgz' file not found

So obviously when I ran the installpkg command nothing installed.. I'm sorry I can't be more helpful with my error messages. It's hard to get error messages into a .txt from my chrooted environment in a LiveCD to my shared partition to windows in order to copy/paste them here.

Often it can be labeled as -SBo and _SBo as well. Don't follow the example exactly though as I haven't been working with a Slackware system actively for a while now except on my laptop which hasn't been updated in a while now.

What LiveCD are you using? SalixOS, Gentoo, or one of the Debian/Ubuntu based Live disks?

Then there was a bunch of files and an install file and such. I couldn't really install it will installpkg because there was no .tgz or txz files. So the only thing I could have done was ./configure, make, make install...

Either way grub-mkconfig still doesn't exist. Grub has proven to be notoriously hard to try to install in Slackware 64.

I'm just using a slackware iso I downloaded from the website and burned to a dvd. Not sure if I understood your question properly.

Ah I see. I figured I didn't install them right. Well, whenever I figure out how to install those packages I guess this will work. I don't know what I did wrong but only one of the packages installed. One said, ./configure no such file or directory, and the other wouldn't let me run make install. I can't remember the error.

EDIT: By the way according to Slackbuilds, grub doesn't require the locale-gettext package.